Tag Archives: nicholl fellowships

I received my email from the competition on Monday evening and the screenplay I entered did not make it to the quarterfinals this year.

However, at the bottom of the email was…

“PS: Your script received two positive reads.”

According to this entry from the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Facebook page, that means my entry fell somewhere in places 1427 – 2526 out of almost 7,200 scripts. I need to remind myself to feel good about being in the top 20%-35% and take that as a positive to keep writing and honing my skills.

On a positive note, my friend Ron Maede’s script “God Gets Fired” did make it into the quarterfinals! I had a chance to read this script awhile back and am very excited for Ron since it’s a quite clever, interesting, and fun story.

“A Nicholl for your thoughts?” parts 1 and 2 were about the 2011 competition, which was a bittersweet experience:

About month before the first round results were announced in July of last year, I got some fantastic notes on Sawbuck from both talented local writers who have sold and optioned scripts, and from a couple pro screenwriters currently writing blockbuster movies. That month was a little tough because I knew deep down I wasn’t going to advance as far as I had originally hoped.

When the first round results were announced, I was actually pleased to find out I got two positive reads (places 1302 – 2161 out of 6,800 scripts) considering what I knew needed to be fixed in the script.

Armed with valuable notes and a positive experience with the contest, I put two other scripts on hold and started on a page one rewrite to get ready for…

The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting 2012 Competition

I basically tore Sawbuck down to the studs and rebuilt.

One example of a major change was taking 3 secondary characters and combining them into one (a corrupt Police Sergeant + a Detective + a Forensic Psychologist = a Detective). This difficult, time-consuming revision changed motivations and timelines throughout the script and, along with a myriad of other changes, had a positive effect by simplifying the story, putting much more focus on the protagonist, and taking the whole script to deeper mysterious and emotional levels.

I couldn’t be more pleased with this draft.

One of my favorite parts of being involved in the contest is seeing the daily Reader Comment Excerpts posted on Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Facebook Page. Of course, it’s easy to read some of them and think, “Oh man! They’re talking about mine!”

I received my email from the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition this weekend informing me that I did not advance to the quarterfinals. While I was disappointed, there was a silver lining as I scrolled down to the last line of the email:

“PS: Your script received two positive reads.“

According to their FAQ, that means my script was in the top third of entries. One more positive read and this is a whole different post. Not bad, considering…

Over the last month, I’ve been given some extremely valuable feedback on the script from a manager, a writer/director, and another working screenwriter. So, while I secretly wished I would advance further in the contest, down deep I knew the script would not go as far as I had originally hoped.

But that’s okay, because I’m not spending one second in sour grapes blaming the system or cursing the names of unnamed, misguided readers who don’t “get it.” It’s a professional contest with a great system. I’m lucky to be able to move forward working on changes driven by solid notes that I feel will make the script twice as good… Progress!

Best of luck to everyone who advanced — may you all experience huge success!!